Month: October 2017

I will try to keep the lies and damned lies to a minimum.  I have had some time to look over some numbers, though.  Let’s start with some contextual numbers.  The Hilltoppers were 18 point favorites.  Odds makers in Las Vegas and the money bet had decided that the resignation of Sean Kugler and the hiring of Mike Price would make little difference in the points and outcome of the game(this could be a lie, but I don’t think so and it is unintentional if it is).  The final score was 15 to 14 for the team from Western Kentucky, a single point deciding the outcome of the game.  So, for the mathematically challenged, the Hilltoppers were 17 points shy of winning by enough to pay off for those who had bet on them and given the 18 points.

Here is what leaps out of the numbers and most of you don’t need anyone to state the obvious, but I am going to point out the irony of it.  The Miners had averaged 201 yards of offense per game in the first 5 games.  The offensive genius of Mike Price raised the offensive output a mere 86 yards.  The Miners had averaged 14 points per game, and last night the Miners scored 14 points.  There were field goals missed that maybe should have been made, and perhaps the extra 86 yards could equate to the field goal and the extra points it could have produced.  But the offensive output in the number of yards produced aren’t the numbers that jump out at you, and don’t represent some complete reversal from what had been.  At best, the numbers would indicate a modest improvement in offense.

No sir, the big difference was on defense.  Yes, the offensive genius of Mike Price cut the offensive output of the Miners opponent just almost in half of what it had been.  Opponents had been averaging 502 yards per game of offense against the same defense that held the Hilltoppers to just 282 yards of total offense last night.  You have to let that sink in for a minute.  More importantly, the Miners had been averaging allowing opponents to score over 45 points per game.  Western Kentucky got 15 last night.  But, that could be a lie wrapped in a statistic, couldn’t it be?  Different teams average different points per game.  The ‘Toppers had only averaged 23 points a game in their first four games before the Miners.  There, I have cleared my conscience on that score.

Now, here comes the lies, maybe.  Because anyone who was in the Sun Bowl last night could sense the difference.  There was a difference in the team, and the fans in the Sun Bowl were a little different.  There was anticipation, and there were questions.  The defense had looked alive at the beginning of games before, and they looked very much so right from the start.  But, on offense, the Miners looked different from the very first play.  The Miners made it clear that the Hilltoppers had better back their asses up!  Then came the slobber knockin’.  No more brick wall.  You wanna go!?  Let’s go!  There was a very well manner, very sporting and sportsman like fight going down and the opponents were pretty evenly matched.  In my opinion, and maybe here is where the lies come in, but in my opinion that is the key, because what didn’t happen is that the defense didn’t eventually crumble.  It maybe a chicken and egg kind of thing, but the offense was mixing it up, fighting hard, and the defense wasn’t falling behind on the scoreboard.  As a matter of fact, it was the Miners offense that was getting the best of it.  The first half was the Miners, and even though not by a lot, it wasn’t a fluke either.  They were out there fighting like hell!  What ever was different, was different in the second half, too.  It was growing.  Instead of fading and getting upended in the second half, the defense was taking up the challenge to finish it out, just as the offense was.  The players were in to win it.  It was there, too.  Oh, yeah, it was building.    Maybe it was coming back would be more accurate, because it is more of a belief thing.  It wasn’t Frazier and Ali but for the first time in years we weren’t playing Sonny Liston to every other team’s Cassius Clay.  This was more like Sue and his Pap.  Maybe even like a couple of third graders.  There was a lot of fighting and maybe not a lot of real damage done.  I would caution the person who thinks this was a pillow fight at the Playboy Mansion, though.  There was serious blows being thrown, and landed.  My guess is that practices this week will have a much different energy than they had had the past five weeks.  This fighter, which ever one you think it is, is going to be spoiling for another fight next Saturday, and my guess is they are going to show it in the preparation and execution in practice and in the next game.  You know how they say the a football takes funny bounces?  Well, UTEP’s football has just taken a bounce.  We are going to find out if it is a fun one or a funny one in the next few weeks.   Buckle me in and double check that safety bar.  I want to take the ride!  Go Miners!

After a long period of darkness, darkness that even the banks of stadium lights couldn’t penetrate, the sun rose over the mountain and shed its light and warmth down on the people, and teams.  The nightmare was over.  Six P.M. signaled a new day.  It was a great day, because things didn’t turn out as hoped, but make no mistake, resignation to misery had turned into the hope of the possible.  No more boxer stepping into the ring wearing a straight jacket.  This time the other guy had to worry about getting hit back.  It was a close fight, and the other guy won on points, but looked like he had had the worst of it.  Our guy was just elated to finally be able to hit back.  I want you to think about that.  There is a huge difference between a prize fighter and a sparring partner.  One takes a beating for money.  The other fights for a prize that goes to the winner.  One has no hope.  The outcome is pre-determined.  There is no joy, no fun, no chance, no hope.  There is pain, humiliation, and an erosion of dignity, spirit, and honor.  The other one has a chance to win and all that goes with it.  The prize being perhaps the least of it.

Our sparring partner turned fighter did well enough last night to know that he had made the right decision.  A little sore, a bit banged up, he is walking around today sporting a big ole grin.  He knows he can fight if given a chance.  He sees other fighters in the gym that he is thinking he can beat, now.  This fighting thing could be a whole lot of fun with a win here and there.  Training is going to take on a whole new meaning.  Instead of rehearsal for a public beating in an exhibition of the other guy’s skills, training has become working on the right that got there just a little late from not being able to use it in sparring sessions.  The next guy is the poor bastard that’s going to find out that the right is sneaky fast, and can knock the shit out of you.

Price removed the straight jacket.  It was fun.  In three days of training, Price convinced our fighter that he was better than a sparring partner.  He convinced him that he should stop taking beatings for a living and fight.  How do you say how huge that is?  There were six more sparring sessions scheduled, but they have been turned into fights.  It is going to be interesting to see how our one-time sparring partner does now that he is allowed to actually try to win fights.

It was great to see light in the Sun Bowl, again.  The fans had fun, and more importantly perhaps, the players had fun. They had fun and came up one punch short of a win, but just wait and see what that does now that the proof is there for them and they aren’t just hoping that the new guy can help.  Last week, they were hoping.  Next Saturday they will go into the game knowing!  Knowing with a week’s worth of preparation of knowing. Remember Larry Holmes.  He was Ali’s sparring partner before he became Champion of the World and even beat his one-time employer who paid good money to beat on him.  Things change.  Things have changed at UTEP.  The sun came up.

One final note.  This would be one hell of a story about the coach, if it was a young new coach.  Instead, it is a coach that is just holding down the fort.  He isn’t using this as a try-out for the job.  But, make no mistake about it.  It was one hell of a try-out for Eric Price.  UTEP is searching during this time for a new Head Coach for next year.  Eric Price has to be a candidate.  He has the qualifications to fill the position at UTEP.  He is actually a made for UTEP candidate.  Mike just made his bid for the job.  Eric will bring Price football.  He is a very different person from his dad, and I don’t know how well the differences would play out.  But, the football is the same.  I think the next few weeks could be huge in the coaching position search.  Mike Price is an Eric Price tryout.  The community response to Mike will go along ways in determining the response to a hiring of Eric.  Since I know Eric to be as fine a man as you could ever ask for, and I believe a damned good football coach, I would welcome Eric with open arms.  The known as opposed to the unknown, untested.  That doesn’t mean I am closed to others.  It means I am damned sure open to Eric.

The Miners are 0-5 to start the season.  Coach Kugler was given the resign boot.  He and his coaches seemed to believe that the team was a few missed plays from winning some of those games.  In order to even getting your head around that you have to understand that the whole philosophy of this team is control. Control the other team by control of the clock.  Keep scores low.  So a pass is not designed to keep defenses off balance.  It isn’t used to get large chunks of yardage.  It is another version of a three yard run, just from a different position.  The offense is based on three yards and taking time off of the clock.  A missed pass is not the loss of the yards it would have gained, it is the end of a drive.  And drives that stall are deadly in this philosophy.  It is a loss of control.  So, in the minds of the coaches, they see a missed pass not as a missed pass, but as a drive lost and control lost.  Momentum lost.

If they are right, and things are going to remain in place as they are, the key will be in the ability to keep the drives going.  A dropped pass either has to be caught, or the damage of a dropped pass has to be mitigated.  Since the coach has no control over the hands that are supposed to catch the ball, that leaves mitigating the damage.  Throwing a longer pass doesn’t help.  If it isn’t caught it is just the same as not being caught on the short pass.  The drive dies.  The same ball caught doesn’t really help that much in the control aspect of the game, so the extra yards are just part of the drive.  Also, a long pass means the run blocking line has to pass block for longer to protect their quarterback.  So, how will CMP mitigate the weight of the pass in this control the ball offense.  If the pass is used on third down and fails, the drive is lost.  If the same four yard pass fails on first down, second down only needs eight yards to  be back on track.  Same with second down.  If the four yard pass is complete on first down, you can still get your three yards per carry on the next two downs and keep a drive alive.  So, run on first and second down every time, and third down is almost always a do or die pass.  A pass on first or second down completed works fine and if it isn’t completed it doesn’t mean the drive is dead.  That is simple and the only thing changed is when the four yard pass is tried.  The other thing CMP could do is give the quarter back options.  If the pass is designed to go to one receiver to get that four yards to keep the drive going the chance of a defender being able to caused a “dropped” pass is greater than if the quarterback has another receiver to go to if the first option is covered.  Keeping in mind that all we want is to keep the drive going, and yards are not what we are worried about, so the pass still doesn’t need to go deep down field.  That pass takes too long for a run blocking line.  So, look for CMP to find ways using quick hitting short passes.  Long throws to the sidelines behind the line of scrimmage take too long and have too many negatives possible.  I think we will see more tight ends taking passes over the middle, maybe passes to a running back sneaking out of the backfield.

Having said all of that, Mike Price loves the energy and excitement of the “Big Play”.  It is the psychological weapon that puts defenses on their heels and invigorates his team both on offense and on defense.  I would expect him to take at least two shots long each half, at least.

So, if the coaches were right and the team was just a few plays here and there from a much different start to the season, it won’t take much to make a big difference.  Think of it this way, do you actually think the football players were better at NMSU or was it something other than the quality of the athletes that was the difference?  If the difference was slim in the games lost, I have to believe that the difference in years of experience between Mike Price and Sean Kugler will be enough to make up for that slim difference between winning and losing those games that were just a few plays from being wins.

That is how hope works in the land of The Pass To the North.  The hopeful grab at anything that can allow us to believe.  For me, Mike Price is the best bringer of hope I have seen in 40 years of UTEP football, so when he returns, he brings a truck load of hope with him.  I am back to being insanely, ridiculously hopeful for a Win, again after years of being resigned to losing.

GO MINERS!